Orange Flowers
by Allos
Summary: A mini-sequel to WOAD. NarutoHinata fluff.


Naruto stood firm, facing his opponents. There were many of them, but he was sure he was the stronger. He had to admit, though, their sheer numbers were confusing him. A flash of color over there, a sudden movement over here. They differed in size, some being twice as big as others, but they were all fairly small compared to Naruto. His mission was to capture some of these creatures, the rest he could leave be. Until this point, he hadn't realized just how hard it would be. His hand at his side twitched once. He wanted to take a kunai and just attack them all, putting an end to the problem.

"Naruto? Hey, what are you doing here?"

Naruto turned away from the colossal flower display to see Ino standing next to him. "You've never come to our shop before. Is this for Hinata?"

Naruto nodded, then sighed. "Yeah, but I don't know what to get her. There's so many, and they're all different colors and sizes and shapes. It's so confusing."

Ino smiled. "Well, you're talking to the right person then. I happen to be an expert at arranging flowers. Did you know that every flower has it's own message?"

Naruto hadn't known that. "Really? Can I get a bunch that say, 'Hinata, you are the best, and I want to stay with you forever'?"

Ino laughed. "Heh heh, well, I don't think you can be quite that specific, but we'll see what we can do."

At first, Ino tried telling Naruto what each flower symbolized, but he quickly forgot, so she decided to take show him some sample bouquets.

"See, this one is one you would want to give to someone who's ill." Ino said.

"Hinata's not sick. Is she? Did she get sick and forget to tell me? Is she alright?"

"Calm down, Naruto. Hinata isn't sick. This is just an example. And this one, this is a good one to give to, say your mom on her birthday." Ino realized her mistake as soon as she said it, and she saw Naruto's head droop. "Oh man, I'm sorry Naruto, I didn't mean to-"

"I can give them to Mrs. Hyuuga!" Naruto jumped onto the counter. "She's kind of like my mom, except that she's Hinata's mom. Does that count?"

Ino breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, that's pretty close. But wait until it's her birthday, or Mother's day or something. Anyways, this is what you're really here for. This one you'd give to someone that you love."

"Ooooh, did you give one to Shikamaru?" Naruto asked, with a wicked grin on his face.

"No, I did not! Why do people keep thinking that I like him like that? We're just friends!"

Naruto nodded sarcastically.

"Shut up. We're just friends. Besides, he likes that girl from the sand, Temari."

"That's okay, there are plenty of other guys around. You could go out with Chouji."

Ino smacked him over the head with a bouquet of flowers. "Shut up! Just because you have a girlfriend doesn't mean you can go around handing out relationship advice! Now what do you think of the bouquet?"

"Well, you kind of wrecked it when you hit me, but, hmm… Do you have any with lots of orange and, uh, that color Hinata wears?"

"Beige?"

"White would be okay too."

"Orange is a pretty rare color, so we don't put a lot of them into and single bouquets, but I can make you one."

"Um, can you just bring me the flowers, and show me how to make it? I want to give Hinata a bouquet I made myself."

Ino nodded. "I can do that."

Ino managed to find enough orange flowers to be a main part of the bouquet, and she got some white a beige ones as well. Then she found some other flowers that would complement the main arrangement. She tried to Show Naruto how they could go together, but in the end, he just threw the orange ones with the white ones, and surrounded them with red. "Because red means love." Naruto had informed her.

Naruto paid for the bouquet and headed for the door. He turned around and yelled, "Thanks Ino! I'll see you later!" His gaze fell onto the Mother's day flowers, and he stopped for a moment.

Then he was out the door and running off to wherever it was he had to go next. The store felt a lot emptier without Naruto's presence in it, Ino thought. Someone like Naruto just brightened up the entire room, and things seemed darker in comparison once he was gone. _Hinata's a very lucky girl. I wish I had someone like that._ Ino thought.

Naruto returned to his apartment and put the flowers in some water. This was the one month and a day anniversary of the party their friends had thrown when they declared Naruto and Hinata officially boyfriend and girlfriend. Hinata had been on a mission yesterday, so they hadn't been able to celebrate the one month anniversary. Naruto had been worried that she might be tired from the mission, but Hinata had insisted that she would be able to go out with the next evening. Which was this evening. Naruto wanted to make it special, so he had gone up to the top of the Hokage Monument and set up a campfire. He was going to take a kettle and some water, and a bunch of packages of instant ramen, and they were going to eat ramen around a fire in the starlight. Naruto was quite proud of himself. He thought that his plan was very romantic. He had been bragging about it to Sakura, who had told him that he should take Hinata flowers, or some chocolates, or some other gift. Naruto hadn't been sure of which he should get, so he got one of each. He had his bouquet of flowers, a box of chocolates, (He had tried to get Chouji to show him how to make them himself, but his batch tasted so horrible that they both agreed that he should use Chouji's chocolates instead) and a small fox plushie that Sakura had helped him make. Naruto Uzumaki was a firm believer that more was better than less.

Naruto checked the time. Only five more hours until he was supposed to go pick up Hinata. He paced nervously.

Hinata, meanwhile, was in her room digging threw her closet looking for something to wear. Neji was sitting on her bed, watching as clothing flew into the air.

"Neji-ni-chan, help! I don't know what I should wear! How about this one?" Hinata held up the shirt that she usually wore under her jacket.

"Yeah, that'll probably-"

"Or maybe this one?" Hinata asked. Neji squinted. As far as he could tell, the alternative was exactly the same as the original. "I'm sure that either of those would be fine." He said.

"No, I wear these all the time! I have to pick something special! This is for Naruto-kun!" She threw the two shirts onto the bed beside Neji and continued her search.

"But you've just nailed it." Neji said, closely inspect the shirts and still finding no differences between the two. "This is for Naruto. You don't need to dress up for him. He loves you for what's on the inside."

Hinata sat down in a pile of clothes. "I know." She took a deep breath. "I bet Sakura and Ino don't have this problem. Does Tenten wear anything special when you two go out?"

Neji was glad he wasn't drinking anything, or he might have just spewed it out his nose. "What are you taking about? Tenten and I aren't going out!"

Hinata looked at him innocently. "Then what do you two do when you go out all day?"

"We _train._ And Lee comes too, so it's not like we're alone."

"So what does Tenten wear?"

"She just wears her usual outfit… I think. I don't really pay attention to that."

Hinata threw her head back onto some pants. "But this is a special evening. I don't want it to be normal. It's special."

Neji stood up and walked over to his younger cousin. "If Naruto is planning this evening, then you shouldn't worry. It'll be unforgettable. Naruto will be unforgettable. All he asks from you is to be there. You don't have to be all dolled up, you just need to go."

Hinata looked up at her cousin's face. "I know."

"He'll like you in what you usually wear, that what you were wearing when he fell in love with you. But, honestly, he'll think you look beautiful in whatever you wear."

Hinata sat up again and nodded.

"And if he does anything inappropriate," Neji added, "Tell me right away. He'll regret it forever."

Naruto arrived half an hour early, but didn't knock on the door until the agreed time. He had considered wearing a shirt and jacket, but he decided that he would look far to ridiculous. So, here he was in his in his usual orange outfit, waiting for Hinata, who was probably going to be in a dress or something really fancy, and he would look like a fool beside her.

Needless to say, he was very relieved when the door opened and Hinata, wearing her usually outfit, came outside to greet him.

"You're not wearing a dress!" Naruto said, thankful.

"Oh! Was I s-supposed to? I'm sorry Naruto-kun!" Hinata started turning around, probably to go and put one on, when Naruto grabbed her arm.

"No, Hinata, I'm sorry. I just had this crazy idea that you would wear a dress. I'm glad that you didn't. I think I like you best in your normal clothes."

Hinata sighed in relief, then took the hand Naruto offered her. "Here, Hinata. I got these for you." Naruto handed her the bouquet of flowers, watching closely for her reaction.

"Oh, Naruto-kun. Th-they're beautiful. Thank you."

"And, I got these chocolates for you too."

"Oh, thank you Naruto-kun."

"And, uh, here. I also, um, made you this, uh, toy." Naruto was starting to feel silly giving so many presents to Hinata. She took the fox plushie and smiled. Her eyes sparkled. "Naruto-kun. This is amazing. C-Can I call it Chibi-Naruto?"

Naruto laughed. "Of course you can."

Hinata took a good long look at the stuffed toy fox, and then slid it into her pocket.

"Okay Hinata, are you ready to go?" Naruto asked. Hinata nodded, holding her breath.

"Then come with me!" Naruto grabbed her hand and ran down the step and out into the street, laughing. Hinata barely managed to keep her balance and not fall, and she didn't even realize where they were going until they were there. A small campfire on the top of the Fourth Hokage's head. Naruto finally released her hand from his iron grip and walked over towards the pile of wood. He took out some matches and started working to get the fire lit.

"Heh, I'd use ninjutsu, but I don't know any fire ones." Not that Hinata minded. She walked over to the pile of wood and sat down opposite Naruto as he got the tinder burning. He leaned back, elated at his success, just as a sudden wind came by and blew the fire out. Hinata laughed as Naruto, grumbling, got back onto his knees and tried again. When the flame caught again, Naruto glared at the sky suspiciously, and didn't sit back up until the fire was going well.

Then he took an iron grid on a stand and put it over the fire, and put the kettle full of water on top of that. They sat and waited for the water to boil.

"Hinata?"

"Yes, Naruto-kun?"

"It's been a month-and a day-since we had that party at Ichiraku ramen, and I just want to tell you that things have never been better. I get to spend a lot of time with you, and the eleven of us hang out a lot too. Your family wasn't tried to have me killed yet, and even your stutter is going away. I wish that things could keep going like this forever."

Hinata moved beside him and put her arm around him. She nuzzled her head on his shoulder and replied, "I do to, Naruto."

Naruto sighed. "But, I'm sorry Hinata." She raised her head to look at him, worry clear in her fire-lit eyes. "I… I have to go away soon. Ero-sennin is going to take me away and train me so that I'll be able to bring Sasuke back. And, I won't see you for a long time."

"But, N-Naruto-kun. You promised. You promised that you would never l-leave me again. You can't leave Naruto-kun."

"I wish that I could stay, and do my training here, but Ero-sennin says that we have travel away."

"Then t-take me with you, Naruto-kun. I'll come along and I'll help you t-train."

Naruto shook his head. "I already asked Ero-sennin, and he says that you can't come with us. We have to be by ourselves. I tried to talk him into it Hinata, I really did. But he said no, not if I wanted to train hard."

Hinata's head lowered. "To get Sasuke-kun back."

"You and Sasuke are the two most important people in the world to me. If anything happened to you, Hinata, I wouldn't stop for anything to get you back too. Please believe me."

"I… I believe you, Naruto-kun. I know how much you value your friends. I guess… I think I understand."

Naruto hugged Hinata. "Thanks, Hinata. Thank you so much." She hugged him back, and they held each other as close as they could, trying to save some part of each other, something to hold onto while they were separated.

"Now, lets have the best night ever! Something to remember for years and years!" Naruto shouted. Hinata coughed up a laugh as he jumped around, quickly wiping away a tear so that he wouldn't see it.

The water boiled soon, and they shared ramen under the newborn stars. They stayed up talking late into the night, talking of things that were, and things that would be.


End file.
